Press Releases, 07/12/2012 | Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will convene in Brussels on 10 December. Finland will be represented by Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja. The topics of discussion at the meeting include Russia, the Middle East peace process, Western Balkans, EU’s southern neighbourhood and EU-US relations.

The foreign ministers will discuss the EU-Russia relations as part of the preparation process of the forthcoming EU-Russia Summit, taking place in Brussels on 21 December.

The Foreign Affairs Council debate about Western Balkans - Serbia and Kosovo in particular - will lay foundations for the discussion on the EU enlargement process to be held in the General Affairs Council on 11 December. With the EU as a mediator, Serbia and Kosovo have been involved in a dialogue on normalisation of their relations.

In the talks about the Middle East peace process the focus will be on the development of the situation after the resolution on Palestine’s UN observer state status was approved by the UN General Assembly vote in November. The situation in Gaza will also be addressed. As regards EU’s southern neighbourhood, the main topic will be Syria. The latest developments in Egypt and the EU support for Libya will also be discussed.

Furthermore, the Council will discuss future outlook and priorities in the EU-US relations and the cooperation after the US presidential election.

In continuation to the discussion conducted at the Foreign Affairs Council in November, the Council intends to agree on how to proceed in the relations between the EU and Ukraine in the light of, for example, the presidential election held in Ukraine at the end of October.